


Stars Within Us All

by scrapmetal



Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Force-Sensitive Clones (Star Wars), Gen, That's Not How The Force Works, X10, i have so many random headcanons in here. fun game: try to find them all, mentions of euthenasia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-30
Updated: 2020-07-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:13:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25617916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scrapmetal/pseuds/scrapmetal
Summary: Boba clung to Kote like they could just disappear at any moment… Which. They kind of could. Just not right now. It would be too cruel to remind Boba that there had always been the chance for Kote to suddenly be gone, either disposed of or wiped of any personality, but Kote almost wanted to.
Relationships: CC-2224 | Cody & Boba Fett
Comments: 5
Kudos: 76





	Stars Within Us All

**Author's Note:**

> Boba's just about 9 in this, making Cody (Kote) physically 17.

Kote hated when Boba was this quiet. He knew he was just thinking but… it was unnerving. He just trailed behind them sometimes, looking like he’d stare directly into the souls of anyone who passed. Kote had mentioned in passing to Ponds a bit too loudly once, and they'd never forget what the nearest longneck had said. 

_“Jango's child does not have the same ability to bond within a batch that you do. It's much more likely to be solitary, as it has not been altered in any way, and Fett is a very solitary human.”_

It was full of shit. A revolting statement that kept Kote from saying anything potentially sensitive for months. Boba was a loner, sure, but he still connected with the rest of them. The quiet moments were _different_. It wasn't the quietness, not the distracted thinking, it was how it felt when he looked at Kote, like there was something just past the range of their senses. And he knew he wasn't full of shit too, Ponds had admitted that he could feel something strange too before the longneck had interrupted. 

“You're the only one in your batch that likes me anymore.”

Kote paused when Boba broke the silence with… Not a question. A statement. He'd found what he was looking for in his silence. 

Kote frowned. “No they don’t. Well not… Really. The rest of Unaone is just…” they trailed off. Would the truth be any better? Probably. Fear was at least less hostile than hate. 

“Scared of _buir_.” Boba deduced. Always too smart for his own good. “Wait- why are they scared of _buir?”_ He sounded almost betrayed. Kote would've sympathized, but who had betrayed who? The rest of Unione squad seemed to think that Jango had abandoned them, and Kote couldn't find it within themself to disagree. Not that he'd ever mention it to Boba. Jango had been kind to them for years, but suddenly it seemed they realized what exactly their clones were marching off towards. And so he stopped. No use getting attached to the disposable ones when they already had Boba. 

“ _Buir_ doesn't like when you play with us as much anymore, Ori’karala. I'm sure you've noticed that. He could get us in serious trouble if he wanted to and, well…” Kote cringed, regretting what he was about to say before he even said it. “You know what happens.”

Kote swore they could feel exactly when Boba's heart dropped to the bottom of his stomach. The nickname hadn't puffed up Boba’s pride enough to soften the blow at all. 

“No, _no_ he wouldn't--” Boba blinked back tears that seemed to refuse to stay in his eyes. “ _Buir_ would never-- they can't. No. They _can't._ ”

Kote swore under his breath as Boba started crying and scooped him into his arms before running through the hallway, away from prying _Kaminii_ eyes. Boba clung to Kote like they could just disappear at any moment… Which. They kind of could. Just not right now. It would be too cruel to remind Boba that there had always been the chance for Kote to suddenly be gone, either disposed of or wiped of any personality, but Kote almost wanted to. The comfort only Boba was given made Kote bitter with resentment sometimes, as much as he knew Boba had just as much chance to be the lucky one as the rest of them. 

“Kote don't leave me, don't ever leave me,” Boba muttered into Kote’s chest. “You can't go. Can you promise? Please?”

Panting, Kote finally found a place to sit, and when he did, something close to a sob left his own mouth. 

“You know I can't do that.”

Because as sheltered as Boba seemed at times, he still knew what happened to them. He'd seen it. Accidentally got caught up in it a few times. Only once whispered about his own strangling guilt from being the only one exempt from it all. 

“...An hour then,” Boba decided. “Stay with me for an hour.”

Kote chuckled silently, thinking through their schedule. Next training session was with Jango himself, and Kote didn't think they'd be able to mind Boba being clingy. “Alright, an hour. I can promise that.”

Boba sighed, his fear and upset slowly draining out of him. 

“We’ll make the best out of the time we do have, right _vod’ika?”_

“Don't call me that,” Boba muttered, almost back to his regular self.

“You know you love me though,” Kote said playfully, ruffling Boba's long curls, “so I can call you whatever I want.”

Boba didn't shove Kote's hands away from his hair like he usually did, and so Kote slowed, moving their hand to Boba's shoulder, worried that they were moving on a bit too fast. 

There were a few beats of tense silence before Boba's voice, worn down by tears, suddenly emerged. “Don't tell _buir_ this but...” Boba had shared with Kote many secrets, many conflicts he had that had taken the hand of an _ori’vod_ to sort out, but Kote had never heard him so scared. “ _Ni cuy kih’jetii.”_

Kote blinked at the full switch to Mando’a. He’s a little jedi..? “What do you mean litt-”

“Don't say it in Basic!” Boba said, panicked. “ _Ni ganar te_ _Ka’ra-_ There's no exact word for it but _no one_ can know. _Ni liser aalar gar aal. Ni liser haa'taylir haa'it, Ni liser-_ ”

Kote's eyes widened as he finally understood. “Is that even possible? Jango isn't, are they?”

Boba shook his head wildly. “No, they aren't. And he hates _Jetiise,_ I can't tell him.”

Usually Kote would urge that Boba could tell his _buir_ about things, usually he could. But this seemed… It wasn't supposed to be possible, and that was the worst part, Kote thought. Jango would never have Boba decommissioned for anything, of course, but this was a major flaw in the cloning process, Boba had a mutation. _He had a mutation,_ and maybe that would mean--

“And I'm the only one you've told?” Kote asked, even though they really didn't know who else Boba would tell. 

Boba nodded. “I've tried to find things on the holonet to help but... it's hard to tell who's for real.”

“...You need help with it?” Kote couldn’t keep the surprise out of his voice. It never occurred to them that force abilities wouldn't come naturally to force sensitives, even though they _knew_ how the Jedi Order worked and were aware of how Jedi grew up and learned, it being a major part of the curriculum and all. It just… well. Kote just never thought about it.

Boba winced. “It makes you uncomfortable when my thoughts go to your head. I dunno how to stop that.”

It clicked, just then. The sensation Kote got when Boba got quiet. It felt like he was staring into their soul because he _was._ How much could he hear? How much could he _feel?_ Before Kote could think everything through, a nauseous fear settled into their stomach, and seeing the look on Boba's face, he regretted it immediately.

Boba backed away slowly from Kote, his own fear radiating off him in waves that Kote realized were affecting _them_ and amplifying their own fear. Before the feedback loop could continue any further, Kote shook his head vigorously, as if to clear out the room. 

Kote’s voice cracked a bit as he started to speak. “No… No. Boba? It's alright. I'm alright. I won't tell anyone, I'm not scared of you I'm just… Sometimes I think things that… I don't want you to hear them. For your sake. They're bad thoughts.”

Boba was frozen, tears threatening to spill again. It took a few moments, but he finally let out a long breath. “Okay, I- I don't, I can't… I don't know what you think, just how you feel. ‘N I don't think I catch all of it, some seems hidden away, probably all the bad stuff.”

Kote laughed heavily in relief, guilt still nagging at their psyche. If he knew from the start that Boba couldn't read his unfairly embittered thoughts towards him… He probably wouldn't've mentioned it. What was worse, having the thoughts in the first place or putting doubt into Boba's trust in them with an offhand allusion to said thoughts? Perhaps he'd figure it out eventually, when the guilt didn't just make him nauseous.

“When your mind… Goes to others’,” Kote started, attempting to be careful with their words, “how much control do you have over it?”

Boba frowned. “Depends. On a lotta things I think. Like, if I’m doing something, my mind’s already busy with that and it doesn't wander. But if I'm just sitting around it just… Goes. If someone's feeling a strong enough emotion without trying to hide it enough, I'll be able to feel it. That's less of my mind going out though, and usually you can just tell from their face. It’s… Harder to ignore you for some reason? ‘N _buir_ too. It's like my mind is always just kinda sitting in yours, and yours is always sorta in mine.”

It took Kote a bit of time to comprehend what exactly Boba was getting at in the last part. “So we're like? Connected? And my mind is in…” Kote faltered, looking back on his interactions with Boba. Maybe he wasn't just overly intuitive. “Oh. I guess that makes sense.”

Boba very suddenly burst out into little giggles. “You're so surprised! Every time you've brushed up against me up here was instinctual? It's like your mind is more bored and wandering than mine is at times.”

Kote flushed a bit in embarrassment. “Am I really that bad?”

“You're just trying to be an _ori’vod,”_ Boba said with an eye roll. “Always making sure I'm okay or whatever. It's very cute, _kih’vod.”_

Kote picked up Boba and set him on their lap, much to Boba's annoyance. “Alright, _vod'ika._ Stop pretending you aren't half my size, you've gotta wait at least until we're the same hight before bringing out _kih. ‘Ika_ is fine but _kih_ is where I draw the line.”

Boba muttered something incoherently under his breath and Kote tried to subtly pull on whatever force connection they had to maybe see if they could tell what Boba was saying. 

“Ow!” Boba exclaimed, sounding rather offended. 

“What?” Kote asked innocently. 

Boba punched them in the arm. “You know what you did.”

“You could feel that? I didn't even really know what I was trying to do, I was just thinking.”

“Felt like you pulled on my hair! But like, with my brain. What were you even trying to do?”

“I just wanted to see if I could hear what you were mumbling like, just to see,” Kote admitted defensively, “I was just testing if it could do stuff like that. Nothing told me I'd actually done anything. Except for you yelling.”

“Rude.”

Kote huffed. “Yeah, well. Can't blame me for being curious… But that being said, do you think I could also be, yknow. Like you? I mean, I did _something._ And I can feel when your mind brushes on mine, or whatever.”

“I think that's all just me,” Boba said with a shrug, almost apologetic. “I think whatever you did was mostly just you drawing on the connection we have. ‘Cause you mentioned you didn't know you were really doing anything, right? I think there's a reason uh… The word ‘sensitive’ is in the term in Basic. Everything has _ka’ra_ . It's just there. I can just feel-and-manipulate it. ‘N I can kinda feel every time you draw on the connection because I lose a bit of my stamina. Not a lot… But in terms of this stuff I have a stupidly small amount of it, it's annoying. You feeling my mind drift to yours happens to _everyone,_ I don't think I'm doing it right, and I don't have a lot of control over it either.”

Kote nodded slowly, feeling a bit of relief. He didn't know what would happen if he, entirely disposable, was knowingly force sensitive.

“We're back where we started, aren't we?”

Boba looked up at Kote from their lap with vague questioning in his eyes and a small frown.

Kote chuckled. “You need to figure out how to make sure you don't freak people out when your mind drifts to them.”

Boba sighed, looking back down. “I don't even know where to start with that.”

“Well I don't either, but I think it'll help if you practice ‘n try things out with someone who actually knows what's going on.”

“Oh,” Boba blinked, apparently surprised at the thinly veiled offer. “Hmm. Alright.” 

**Author's Note:**

> in the cody boba grew up together headcanon universe i've slapped together this would be close to the end of boba's contact with cody, about a year before the war starts jango finally completely bans contact between the two because hes just. afraid. for both of them.
> 
> Mando'a Translations:  
> buir- parent  
> Kaminii- Kaminoan  
> vod'ika- little sibling (not necessarily 100% based on age)  
> Ni cuy kih’jetii- I am (a) small jedi  
> Ni ganar te Ka’ra- I have the stars (more specificly referring to the ancient Mandalorian myth - ruling council of fallen kings). Ka'ra is used as a rough approximation because there is no word for the force in mando'a  
> Ni liser aalar gar aal. Ni liser haa'taylir haa'it, Ni liser- I can feel your feelings. I can see vision (word describing one's understanding of their future), I can-  
> Jetiise- Jedi (plural)  
> ori'vod- older sibling  
> kih'vod- younger sibling (much more age dependent than vod'ika)  
> kih- small  
> 'ika- general diminutive 
> 
> About the nickname Cody uses for Boba: It's derived from [Boba's second (clone) name](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24937084), Lucky, translated into mando'a, which would be Jate'karala. Ori'jate'karala would be a bit long for a nickname, and even though ka'ra is a completely different word, the removal of the glottal stop and the "la", which makes it into an adjective, implies that it is a root word within the word the nickname is based off of. Other people who know Mando'a might not quite guess that the nickname was based off jate'karala, but they wouldn't think it was based off of ka'ra.


End file.
